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Diffusion of innovations presentation

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Diffusion of Innovations: Email Rebecca Foster and Becca Levy
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Page 1: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Diffusion of Innovations: Email

Rebecca Foster and Becca Levy

Page 2: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Diffusion

“The process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system.”

For example, the increasing popularity of email throughout the 1990s and 2000s

In the following slides, we discuss our interviews with six subjects about their adoption of the innovation of email

Page 3: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Adopter Categories

“The classifications of members of a social system on the basis of innovativeness.”

Innovators

Early adopters

Early majority

Later majority

Laggards

Page 4: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Subjects

Subject 1: father of three born in 1951, early adopter

Subject 2: mother of three born in 1953, later majority

Subject 3: mother of two born in 1946, extreme laggard (non-adopter)

Subject 4: father of three born in 1957, early majority

Subject 5: mother of three born in 1961, later majority

Subject 6: mother of two born in 1935, laggard

Page 5: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Characteristics of Innovations

Relative advantage

Compatibility

Complexity

Trailability

Observability

Page 6: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Relative Advantage

“The degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supersedes.”

Email vs. snail mail: Email was perceived as a much faster and more efficient alternative to snail mail. It was able to convey information instantaneously and without cost, once the technology is obtained.

Email vs. phone: Both were instantaneous forms of communication, but email is cheaper and was more convenient for working around different schedules. Also, email provided a tangible record of conversation. Another point of comparison is the lack of tone of voice required when typing an email vs. talking on the phone; this could be construed as a positive or a negative.

In general, some feel email is a less personal form of communication.

Some have concerns over security/privacy issues associated with using email and the internet.

Page 7: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Relative Advantage Quotes

Subject 2: “No one hears your voice, so you can be as emotional or complacent as you wish. Also, the time frame is much more relaxed – I can read emails when I have the time.”

Subject 5 on tone disadvantages in email:

Subject 4 on email in the workplace:

Subject 6 on email and the elderly:

Subject 5 on benefits of using email:

Subject 4 on phone vs. email:

Subject 5 on phone vs. email (two quotes)

Page 8: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Compatibility

“The degree to which an innovation is perceived as being consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters.”

Email had mixed compatibility. Email had the ability to convey the same messages that

consumers had grown to expect in a method of communication, like snail mail or the phone.

Since email required such a big investment in vastly different technologies than most were used to (the computer), some found it incompatible with their lifestyle.

This also applies to people’s value of personal communication – some feel you do not get the same level of intimacy when communicating through email than when hearing a person’s voice.

Also, this affects people’s value of privacy because personal information is so easily attainable on the internet.

Page 9: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Compatibility Quotes

Subject 1: “Email is more efficient…it’s a real time saver. Rather than trade phone messages, you can shoot off an email and get a quicker response.”

Subject 4 on personal aspects (two quotes):

Subject 4 on security:

Page 10: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Complexity

“The degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use.”

Initially, people perceived email as highly complex and requiring a large time commitment to learn.

Page 11: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Complexity Quotes

Subject 3: “I’m missing not being able to hear from a lot of people that I would like to hear from if I did have an email. But you need a structured class to learn and with my schedule I would have to miss work some of the time.”

Subject 5 on adjusting to using email:

Page 12: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Trialability

“The degree to which an innovation may be experimented with on a limited basis.”

Email had mixed trailability. If one already had the technology, email was easy to

try, without a commitment due to free email websites.

If one did not already have the technology, trying email required a big commitment.

Page 13: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Trialability Quotes

Subject 1: “I bought my first computer in 1983. In the early to mid 1990’s, I heard about email from my children who talked about AOL. I just loaded AOL on my computer and followed the directions. I was already computer literate so no one needed to show me how. AOL’s system was very intuitive.”

Page 14: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Observability

“The degree to which the results of an innovation are visible to others.”

Email had a high degree of observability. As people saw their peers or their children talking

about and using email, they were encouraged to hop on the bandwagon and start using email themselves.

Page 15: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Observability Quotes

Subject 2: “It was becoming the best, fastest, most popular way of communicating and if I didn’t want to be left out of the loop completely, I needed to learn it and do it.”

Subject 4 on his motive for getting email:

Page 16: Diffusion of innovations presentation

The Future

We also discussed where email will take us in the future and what life will be like for those who grow up with internet communication

Subject 4:

Subject 5:

Subject 6:

Page 17: Diffusion of innovations presentation

Citations

Rogers, E. M. (1994).Elements of diffusion. In Diffusion of Innovations (pp. 1-37). New York: Free Press.

Thanks to Mike Levy, Cheri Levy, Raquel Shapiro, Richard Foster, Nancy Foster, & Judy Basch for the interviews.


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